


Molten

by LightOnLight



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Established Relationship, Extremis, FrostIron - Freeform, Gruesome Imagery, Implied Violence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-04
Updated: 2013-05-04
Packaged: 2017-12-10 09:17:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/784396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightOnLight/pseuds/LightOnLight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Minorest of minor spoilers for Iron Man 3 regarding the Extremis virus.<br/>---<br/>"He had Loki by his side. Fierce, beautiful, deadly Loki. Who tore through Extremis soldiers like they were made of cardboard. Who cackled in delight at the legions of burning enemies that stood no chance against his magic. Immortal Loki, who stood like an unwavering presence at his side, a thousand years of experience in warfare making the fight easy.<br/>That is, until Tony saw Loki fall off the edge of his rebuilt mansion's roof into the smoke below, a hand clutched to his neck."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Molten

**Author's Note:**

> Set a while after Iron Man 3. Extremis enemies (old formula) are back to kick ass.

Tony is tumbling over rubble and dust, shedding suit pieces left and right. The Mark LV is damaged beyond repair, he just peels its pieces off of his skin and throws them away. It is of no use any longer. The battle is over, its deed done; though it failed to help him protect the one thing that matters.

But that isn't true, is it? He would never have thought that _he_ would someday need to protect _Loki_. Fierce, beautiful, deadly Loki. Who tore through Extremis soldiers like they were made of cardboard. Who cackled in delight at the legions of burning enemies that stood no chance against his magic. Immortal Loki, who stood like an unwavering presence at his side, a thousand years of experience in warfare making the fight easy.

That is, until Tony saw Loki fall off the edge of his rebuilt mansion's roof into the smoke below, a hand clutched to his neck. He didn't worry back then, the fall wasn't steep, Loki was a hardy creature, and there were only two helicopters left for him to unibeam into oblivion.

 

That was back then. Now it is an hour later, a heli exploding in his face later, a crash-landing in a burning suit later. And he hasn't found Loki yet. Tony is yelling for him, coughing and stumbling in the mess the battle has left in its wake. All he wants is to find his lover.

Sadly, that turns out to be untrue, also. Once he finds him, he wishes for anything else, anything else but _this._

At fist he doesn't comprehend what he sees: Loki is writhing on the floor in the mess that once had been his living room. He is cramping and whining pitifully, tearing at his armour. Then Tony steps nearer and sees the reddish-orange glow pulsing through Loki's cheeks. Next to him on the floor lies the arrow that infected him. The bastards infected Loki with Extremis.

Tony drops the last pieces of armour covering him and runs to Loki's side, sinking down to his knees. “Shh, it's alright honey, calm down. You can fight it down, just concentrate...” He is about to stroke hair out of Loki's face when the other finally manages to tear away his smoking clothes with cramping hands. And this is worse, oh this is so much worse, because it's not that the virus is threatening to explode Loki, no, it is somehow _melting_ him from the inside.

“W-what... what is happening... Loki?”

Panic constricts his throat as pained green eyes zero in on his face. Loki looks terrible, red, watery fluid seeps out of all of his orifices, his eyes are blood red around startling green irises and his raised birth-lines flicker over Loki's normally creamy skin. He croaks something Tony doesn't understand. He tells him so. Loki needs two more croaks to make Tony understand him: 'Frost Giant', he says.

Tony does his best not to recoil wailing like a child as he realizes that the fluid seeping through Loki's skin and out of his mouth is his _inner tissue melting like snow._ Loki cramps and whimpers before him, an act Tony only now sees as death throes.

It is suddenly very hard to breathe and his vision swims. His shivering hand takes Loki's searching one, comforting him despite the terrible heat the appendage emits. A muffled thud is heard and he realizes in horror that it came out of Loki's chest. After the sound, his lover slowly calms down. Or a better word would be, that he loses the last force left in him to keep him alive.

Tony mumbles incoherent sentences, he takes Loki's face in his hands and strokes soothing thumbs over his cheeks. He isn't prepared for this, not in the slightest. When you are dating an immortal alien god, there is just no possibility in your head that he might die before you. Before your very own eyes. Not when you are the idiot with a hero complex, with your fragile human body only protected by a tin can, endangering your tiny little life on a regular basis. And yet his lover, one thousand and fifty years old, fast healing and hardy as rock lies before him and the light in his eyes slowly goes out.

Loki shudders and now deep red blood is welling over his cracked lips. His eyes never leave Tony's and he is sure that this is the last time he will be able to see those eyes that he had taken for granted in the mornings, next to him, greeting him sleepily. Time seems to stretch and Tony can read the agony on his lover's face. He wishes for it to end quickly, because he is too cowardly to end it himself. He can't grant his lover the reprieve because even in this moment he is selfish and wants to drink in every last thing Loki gives him, however tiny a notion.

The whining noises in Loki's throat die down, then his breathing stutters to a halt. At last his eyes glaze over and break, never having left Tony's face.

 

When Natasha finds him, he is kneeling in the midst of the chaos of what once had been his livingroom slowly rocking the body of his dead lover in his arms. Though that wouldn't be the truth, what Natasha finds is a little more complicated than that. When she realizes what she sees, she only has enough time to bow forward enough for her vomit to miss her boots.

She doesn't turn around again when she presses the commlink in her ear and reports back to base that she found Stark, but they probably won't have much use of him in the future. On Fury's question why, she can only say that Stark appears to have merged with a melting body, skin to skin and bone to bone.


End file.
